by Andy Briggs
“An EMP is dangerous,” said Wan-Soo. “It destroys electronics, computers, can knock power stations out…”
“Quite right,” said Wade. “Except back then, such technology didn’t exist. The outbreak of World War I saw Black Knight mothballed, and then, well, the world changed and it was forgotten.”
Wan-Soo shifted in his seat. “But now…”
“But now, if the electromagnetic pulse was fired, we would all be fine. But every piece of technology on the planet would cease to work.”
“We can just rebuild it,” said Riya.
“With what? Factories would be shut down completely. Power stations destroyed, no electricity. Nothing. Not event an electric light in the darkness. Setting mankind back to the Stone Age. How long do you think it would take the world to turn on itself?”
In the silence that filled the room, everybody had the same shared vision of carnage.
Wade continued. “The thing is, Black Knight uses gravitons. It can only be fully activated during an eclipse. This” – she tapped the image of the Antikythera Mechanism – “not only tells us when the eclipse will take place, but also what tonal notes to use to establish access. The Antikythera’s melody was merely a delightful whimsy of what the original creators thought the universe sounded like. The Company had several of these in its archives, knowing that the rest of the world had forgotten such ancient technology. So they used it as a safeguard to stop the enemy from using Black Knight. After all, who would think of using a key that was constructed two thousand years before the lock was made? Tesla’s invention was merely a secondary ‘modern’ piece of security. And, for all this time, it worked.”
Tyker crossed to the screen and peered at the enlarged mechanism image. “That is why you altered the X-ray images?”
Wade nodded. “We knew of Black Knight’s existence of course. We had the Teslator, which Lee stole, so for the sake of security we thought it would be wise to change the X-ray. That way we could leave the artefact hidden in plain view.”
“You never expected the Company to come back for it, did you?” Dev asked.
Wade shook her head. “Correct. Like so many other things, we hoped that this particular issue would be lost in history. However, as of five hours ago, Lee and his team established contact with Black Knight, and there is no doubt that he is just on the wrong side of insane to want to send the planet back to the Stone Age and establish a new world order.” She looked at Aaron. “One in which that tiny island nation once again expands to take control of the world.”
The huge Osprey 9 rocket sat quietly on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The sun glinted from the eighty-foot white fuselage as a small team of technicians hurried around the three boosters, making final preparations.
Eryl Stoker looked up proudly at his creation. The youthful internet billionaire had made his fortune creating a wildly successful online retail store. While he was proud of his achievement, it wasn’t his dream. For as long as he could remember, his dream had been space travel, so he’d invested his extensive fortune into his Space Rangers company. The Osprey rocket was the fruit of that passion.
So far his successful unmanned flights had proved his design was capable of reaching orbit and even resupplying the International Space Station. It had been the most successful private rocket in history.
He shielded his eyes from the sun as he peered at the top of the rocket. The command pod there was tiny, just enough for one astronaut. The pilot’s seat would be empty this trip, but if the design worked, after this last test flight it would soon be the first private organization to put a person in space.
Eryl had a little tradition to come out to the launch and wish the rocket a safe journey. He was convinced it bestowed good karma on the mission, and so far his track record seemed to indicate it worked.
This is as close as he could get. Within hours they would fill the rocket with fuel and he’d have to retire to the safety of the launch centre. He was about to walk back to his waiting electric car when he noticed movement at the top of the launch gantry.
As he moved position for a better view, he could clearly see a man crouching on the steel arm that connected the gantry to the rocket’s nose. He snatched the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.
“You on the launch tower, identify yourself.” The figure slipped from his view and Eryl listened to the soft hiss of static on his radio. The space race game was a lucrative business, and he was under no illusion that competitors would try anything to put him out of the running. He spoke into the radio again. “Security, I think we have an intruder.”
To his surprise there was no immediate response. He keyed his radio again. “Security? Anybody?”
He was met with silence. Eryl sprinted around the launch pad towards the engineering team. Ahead was the white engineering truck with the distinctive Space Rangers logo on the side, but he stopped running as he drew closer. The engineers were all laying still on the floor.
“Eryl Stoker!” Eryl whirled around and saw a man stepping from behind a solid concrete foot of the launch pad. Lee came forward and extended his arms as if anticipating a hug. “I am your biggest fan!” He rushed over and shook Eryl’s unresisting hand. “It’s an honour to meet you, it really is. Hey, I should have brought my Time magazine with you on the cover; you could have autographed it for me. And this” – he gestured towards the rocket – “is an amazing hobby. When I was a kid I wanted a train set when I was older. I never got it. But you … you got to do this!”
Eryl cast a wary eye at his prone men. Lee noticed. “Oh, don’t worry about them. They’ll wake with a headache and probably wonder where the heck the rocket went.”
Eryl was used to leading conversations when he was in a room with engineers or investors, but his head was spinning trying to keep up with Lee. “The rocket?”
Lee put an arm around Eryl’s shoulder in a friendly gesture. “Yes. I’m afraid I need to take it. I’m in desperate need of it right about now.”
“You can’t have it.”
Lee gently tutted. “And you come across as such a positive person in all those interviews.” He playfully punched Eryl on the shoulder. “You’re the one who taught me that there’s nothing that can’t be done. So, I’m taking it.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Hey, impossible is kinda my thing.”
Eryl’s passion overwhelmed his common sense and he shucked Lee’s arm off his shoulder.
“This launch is critical in proving my design! I will be the first private company to orbit a man, and nobody will stop me.”
Lee nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly. I’ll prove the design for you. It is pretty essential it works. It just won’t be taking off here, is all.” He draped his arm around Eryl’s shoulder and dropped his voice to a whisper. “But the bad news is, all this hullabaloo about being the first private whatever in space? You’re not.”
Lee burst into laughter at Eryl’s reaction … then fell serious as an idea occurred to him. He snapped his fingers and pointed at him.
“Hey. Do you want to see?”
Before Eryl could answer, Lee sprayed a fine mist and the billionaire crumpled to the floor.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss the end of an era.”
The news of Eryl Stoker’s abduction came to Wade as she was finishing her briefing to the team. A suited security man had run into the room and urgently whispered into Wade’s ear. She looked troubled as she relayed the information to the team.
“He also took the rocket,” she added with a shake of her head. “So we believe he intends to launch a payload to Black Knight.”
“How do you steal an entire rocket?” Riya asked incredulously.
“Carefully,” replied Mason with a smile that wasn’t returned. He coughed, embarrassed, then added, “They stole thousands of items from the Inventory in minutes, including warships. A rocket would have been a piece of cake.”
“You have astronauts on the ISS, don’t you
?” said Aaron. “Can’t they just spacewalk over there and stop him from doing whatever it is he’s doing?”
“Of course we have tried that. Any attempt to get close to Black Knight results in its security systems shooting the intruder. We have lost too many good astronauts just trying to get close.”
“Surely you’ve got a spaceship in the Inventory?” All eyes turned to Tyker. “I have heard you all talking about this place so much, I can only guess at the marvels held inside.”
Wade opened her mouth, ready to deny the Inventory’s existence, but Dev talked over her.
“We’ve never had anything like that in the Inventory. At least not that I know of.”
Tyker wasn’t ready to give up that line of thought. “What about your flying saucer?”
Wade shook her head. “Don’t be fooled by the design. The Avrocar was manufactured here on earth – Canada, in fact – and was never intended for operations outside the atmosphere. You would burn up if you tried. Or be bombarded with radioactive particles that the cabin isn’t shielded against. But before all that, you would probably die of asphyxiation. No air.”
Wade stared across the seats, thinking aloud. “With the space shuttle decommissioned and the prohibitive time in preparing any rocket launch from Russia, China or the European Space Agency, we have no method to beat him. Our only option is here on the ground. Prevent him from launching the Osprey.”
“Only we don’t know where he is,” Lot pointed out.
Tyker tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps we do.” Wade’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “Only we will require a very skilled hacker,” he wiggled his fingers indicating they had one already. “And some very powerful computers.”
Dev couldn’t help but think Tyker’s smile looked a little too smug…
“Is the blindfold really necessary?” Tyker complained as he was led out of the Inventory’s elevator.
“You wanted to come here, then you play by our rules,” Wade said as she guided him down a corridor.
Dev and Aaron had stayed with Tyker while the others had taken a welcome opportunity to return home and rest. Once inside the command bunker, Wade removed the blindfold. Tyker blinked as he looked around. The bank of monitors that normally offered views around the Inventory were deactivated to prevent him from snooping.
“I’ll leave you to it,” said Wade.
By the time Tyker turned around, the door had hissed closed behind her, leaving Dev standing sheepishly to one side and Aaron sitting in front of the computers, studying him carefully.
“But they trust you?” Tyker asked. When Dev gave him a questioning look he clarified. “I mean, you are just children. No offence.”
“Offence taken,” said Aaron with a flicker of a scowl.
“They can’t run this place without me,” Dev said casually as he accessed the computer terminal then slid the keyboard to Aaron.
Tyker had suggested they could track a small, specially made biochip that Eryl Stoker was rumoured to have had surgically implanted in his skull as a precaution if he was ever kidnapped.
Because the biochip was brand-new technology, Aaron argued it would need the sensitivity of the Inventory’s quantum computers to locate it. The team also agreed that Tyker should come with them; after all, Wade had admitted he was an expert on Black Knight, so if his memory came back he could prove to be invaluable.
Finally, Wade had given in and – after a fierce argument with Charles Parker – it was agreed to allow Tyker into the bunker, but only under the strictest supervision.
Aaron began slowly hacking his way through the various menus on the computer system. Dev sat in the chair next to him and impatiently drummed his fingers on the desk.
“Do you have to?” said Aaron testily, glancing at Dev’s hand.
Dev stopped, but couldn’t help himself. “I thought you were some kind of super hacker.”
“I am one of the greatest Grey Hat hackers on the planet.”
He noticed Dev pull a face. “Only I thought hackers do that cool fast typing thing. You’re only using two fingers like chopsticks.”
Aaron stopped, his index finger hovering over the enter key. “It stops me from making mistakes.” He hammered the enter key overly hard, then muttered under his breath, “And I never learnt to type properly…”
Dev leaned back in the swivel chair and yawned. He hadn’t got much sleep the night before and it was now catching up on him. The slow rhythmic clack of Aaron’s rubbish typing was lulling him into a slumber. In an effort to stay awake, Dev slowly rotated in his chair … and froze when he turned back to Aaron and Tyker.
They were not there!
Instead, his uncle sat at the control desk, the years shaved off him as he looked excitedly across the bank of monitors. He turned to speak to Dev with more excitement than Dev could ever recall.
“The cryonics bays are now online!” Charles declared. “Along with the cloning facility… We are finally going to do this!”
What Dev was seeing looked so real that it took a moment for the shock to give way as he grappled with the knowledge that this was just one of Professor Liu’s dormant memories.
Charles stood and paced the room. “Imagine a world where war was pointless.”
Dev heard Professor Liu’s answer, but the words sounded garbled and slurred as if distorted by feedback. It was disconcerting to be part of a conversation when you could only hear the other person. Whatever Liu had said caused Charles to nod eagerly.
“Exactly! Now, there are only the three of us who will know about the significance of the Black Zone. Once it is up and running it’s imperative it stays that way. Plans are already afoot for an off-site storage facility.”
Dev frowned. Off-site? The tantalizing concept that there was a second Inventory forced him to stand bolt upright, determined to be part of the pre-recorded conversation.
Then something struck him across the face. It was Tyker who had his hand poised to strike again.
“Stop!” Dev threw up his hands protectively. “You do know you’re not supposed to hit kids?”
“For kids who fly around in flying saucers I make exceptions.” Tyker’s brow knitted with concern. “You were staring into space and shouting out.” He lowered his hand.
Dev noticed that Aaron was also giving him an odd look. “You flipped out just then. It was … unsettling.”
Dev took a breath to relax. “What did I say?”
Tyker looked at him peculiarly. “Something about cryogenics. Do you freeze people here?”
Dev was evasive. “Anything else?”
Tyker studied him carefully, then his eyes darted to the security cameras in the corner of the room. He smiled and ruffled Dev’s hair. “Nothing more.” He sat back down in his chair.
“Weirdo,” muttered Aaron under his breath and continued typing. “While you were being a space-cadet, I managed to hack into Space Rangers’ server and locate a small program linked to a biochip. If I am not mistaken, we have our tracker. The only problem is, I don’t know how to activate it.” He looked at Tyker. “Any ideas?” Tyker shook his head.
Dev nudged Aaron aside. “Let me.”
Aaron held up his hands defensively. “Wait a second, but I am one of the best hackers on the planet. I have been part of Anonymous for years, I—”
“And we’re done.” A map appeared onscreen, a pulsing blip indicating Eryl Stoker’s location.
Aaron and Tyker were dumbfounded.
Tyker frowned. ““How did you do that? You didn’t type anything.”
Dev didn’t meet their gaze. “Well, I guess I’ve just got the touch.”
Tyker was escorted to the farmhouse to wait; he wasn’t a guest, but not quite a prisoner either. Dev, Wade and Charles stayed below to discuss how to rescue the kidnapped billionaire and stop Lee’s plan.
“I think I should go with Aaron and Tyker. Not the others.” Under their questioning look, Dev was forced to admit his suspicions. “Aaron thinks there may be a
mole in the group.” He stopped short of telling them about Lot’s text message.
Wade crossed her arms. “That’s impossible. The new recruits were thoroughly vetted before they joined. There’s no way anybody could have got to them before we did.”
“But they knew we were at Tyker’s motorhome and in the Scrapyard. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“The attackers were Lee’s team on both occasions, chasing down your new friend, Mister Tyker, who is the only person who hasn’t been security vetted.”
“He wouldn’t arrange to have himself attacked!”
Wade and Charles swapped a look. It was Wade who eventually spoke up. “No. That would either be incredibly stupid … or a rather good alibi.”
Lee felt like the greatest magician on the planet after transporting the Osprey rocket from Cape Canaveral to the specially constructed launch platform bolted to the side of the oil rig. He was rather disappointed that there was not much of an audience to see it happen.
Listening to music on his phone, he danced across the platform to admire the rocket that towered over the deck. Swaying to the beats, he admired the vehicle and recalled how, as a child, he had always fantasized about taking a rocket ride. He had almost achieved that ambition, except he wasn’t going to be riding this rocket into space. He was going to take another, less dangerous route. The rocket was needed for another purpose.
The operation’s timing had danced on a knife’s edge, but he’d succeeded just as the sun was rising across the ocean, marking the start to another day…
Or the final day, as Lee thought of it.
Shortly before midday the eclipse would begin and, now repositioned directly above them, Black Knight would become fully operational. He just had to make sure that everything was in place before then.
He slipped his headphones off and put a call through his holo-pad. It was answered moments later by the now-familiar digitally altered voice.